Traffic passes a building in Lower Manhattan that once housed the Burlington Coat Factory store. A mosque and Islamic cultural center is planned to replace the building

Bill Doyle, whose son was also
among the 3,000 victims, said: ‘What
I’m frightened about is that it’s
almost going to be another protest
zone – a meeting place for radicals.’

Paul Sipos, a member of the New
York community board, said the
£68million community project
should be located somewhere else.

‘If the Japanese decided to open
a cultural centre across from Pearl
Harbour, that would be insensitive.
If the Germans opened a Bach choral society across from Auschwitz, even after all these years, that would be an insensitive setting,’ he told the New York Post.

‘I have
absolutely nothing against Islam. I
just think, why here?’

But the organisation behind the mosque has said they picked the spot precisely because of its location near Ground Zero.

Building a mosque 'where a piece of the
wreckage fell.... sends the opposite statement to what happened on 9/11, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the cleric leading the
project, told the New York Times last year.

'We want to push back against the extremists,' Feisal, 61, added.

Director of the mayor's Office of Immigrant Affairs Fatima Shama told the New York Times: 'We as New York Muslims have as much of a commitment to rebuilding New York as anybody.'

The FBI has also given Feisal its seal of approval after he helped them reach out to the Muslim population in the wake of the attacks.

'We've had positive interactions with him in the past,' a spokesman was quoted as saying.

Since the attacks, Ground Zero
has become a shrine to the victims,
with millions of visitors paying
their respects every year.

Pamela Geller, executive director
of the Stop Islamisation of America
activist group, is organising the June 6 rally in protest against the
development, which will be called
Cordoba House.

She said: ‘What could be more
insulting and humiliating than a
monster mosque in the shadow of
the World Trade Centre buildings
that were brought down by an
Islamic jihad attack?

‘Any decent American, Muslim or
otherwise, wouldn’t dream of such
an insult.’

But Daisy Khan, executive
director of the American Society for
Muslim Advancement, said:
‘The time for a centre like this
has come because Islam is an
American religion.

‘We need to take the 9/11 tragedy
and turn it into something very
positive. It will also serve as a major
platform for amplifying the silent
voice of the majority of Muslims who
have nothing to do with extremist
ideologies.’

She added that up to
2,000 Muslims would be expected to
pray at the mosque every Friday.

Herbert Ouida, whose son died in
the attacks, said: ‘I understand the
anger, the bitterness and hatred,
but it only generates more hatred.’

A community board backed the
project last week, but organisers
are still seeking funding.

A radical cleric has called for the
creation of a ‘Greater Iran’ that
would rule over the Middle East
and Central Asia. Hezbollah leader
Ayatollah Mohammad Bagher
Kharrazi said the formulation of an
‘Islamic United States’ would
herald the coming of Islam’s messiah.